The Serving the Community (Efficiency Unit 1995) document was intended to be a ‘management guide for civil servants’ and provided the blueprint for the Patten reforms. Patten’s policy address of 1992 underlined the objective of ‘serving the community’ for the Hong Kong government, but the document does little more than to re-confirm the PSR report, the main points of which are summarised above. In addition, it argues that framework agreements should be drawn up between policy secretaries and agency heads,

and the notions of policy branches and document amplifies

managing for performance and managing by programme for both

departments were introduced in 1993.

A

these

notions

by

recommending

some

Finance Branch (1995) delegation of financial

management to policy branches and departments from the Officers in each department would become responsible for did not try to alter the structure of government nor did he

Finance Branch.

expenditure.

In

Controlling sum, Patten

attempt

to

transform

the

civil

service.

Rather, he emphasised politics by promoting Hong Kong’s fledgling

whose politicians increasingly put pressure on the government secretaries in particular.11 The Patten reforms, like the PSR

generally, document,

and had

democracy the policy a political

purpose that was related particular were part of a

to the pending reunification with China. Performance Pledges renewed attempt for the government to ‘bolster its legitimacy’

in in

the

run-up

to

reunification

(Lau

1997:

43).

Thus,

the

notion

of

managerial

freedom

that

underpins NPM acted as political capture’ (Huque et

a al

‘shield’ for 1998: 52).

Hong

Kong

public

administration

from

‘external

Tung (1997 -)

The present Chief Executive, Tung Chee-hwa, has largely maintained the administrative system he inherited in July 1997 following the establishment of the Hong Kong SAR. This is unsurprising, as Tung’s biggest restraint is the Basic Law, which guaranteed continuity in the civil service system and conditions of service.12 However, in his irst policy address in 1997, he announced a range of promises on a number of policy areas